American Airlines Drops Baggage Fees for Premium Economy Flights Booked Starting Today
US-based airlines love their baggage fees — they've racked up over $4 billion per year from these alone. But, effective today, one US airline is taking some weight off your shoulders (both literally and financially) by eliminating one of its checked baggage fees.
For tickets purchased after 12:00am Central Time on November 13, American Airlines is dropping the $100 second checked bag fee for certain premium economy tickets. Specifically, this is for tickets "between Europe and U.S. [excluding Hawaii], Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Canada, Mexico, Caribbean, Central America and South America (excluding Brazil)." For US-based travelers, this means premium economy flights between the US and Europe will now get two free checked bags.
For some reason, this was the only international region pairing where American Airlines was still charging for a second checked bag on a premium economy ticket. With this change, all international premium economy tickets will feature two free checked bags.
However, premium economy tickets "within and between U.S., Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands" will be assessed a $35 checked bag fee for the second checked bag. Based on the premium economy routes announced so far, this is effectively just for premium economy flights between the US mainland and Hawaii.
Checked bag fees for the third bag on premium economy tickets still run between $85 (to/from Brazil) and $200 (most intercontinental flights). Here's the full list of American Airlines baggage fees.
The airline has clarified that this policy only affects tickets purchased today (November 13) and won't be applied to other tickets retroactively. An airline spokesperson confirms "this means that on the same flight we may see customers who receive one free checked bag or two free checked bags, depending on when they purchased their ticket."
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